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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27558061">The Bath</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freckleberg/pseuds/Foolsparsley'>Foolsparsley (Freckleberg)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adoptive family, But what if Kaer Morhen DIDN'T have hot springs, Found Family, Gen, Geralt Learns How to Dad, Kaer Morhen, Winter At Kaer Morhen, adoptive father, papa Geralt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:02:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,255</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27558061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freckleberg/pseuds/Foolsparsley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ciri's first night at Kaer Morhen - Geralt helps comb her hair.</p><p>Just a found family father-daughter pointless sweetness ficlet</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Bath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Geralt felt more at ease now that they had reached Kaer Morhen. After months on the road - taking hidden paths through dark forests, avoiding beasts and Scoia'tael, watching over their shoulders for unseen pursuers - he felt a great burden lifted from him to bring Ciri safely within Kaer Morhen's crumbling walls. To bring her home.</p><p>But there were still some things they needed to work out. The Witchers' stronghold hadn't housed children in decades, and it had never housed a girl. Geralt wasn't sure what they were going to do with Ciri. He had been firm with Vesemir that she should not undergo the mutations - there would be no Trial of the Grasses. But then what would they do with her - train the little princess to be a Witcher anyway?</p><p> </p>
<p></p><div>
  <p>That first evening after they arrived, Eskel filled the tub in the washroom with hot water for a bath. "Should Ciri go first?" He asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Because it took effort to boil and carry the water, baths were an infrequent luxury at Kaer Morhen. They were also a matter of hierarchy. When Geralt had trained as a boy, the rule was the oldest Witchers would go first, then down through the older boys to the youngest. By the time the little boys bathed, the water was often cold and filthy.  Even after the decline of Kaer Morhen, this tradition has persisted. So, by those rules, Vesemir should go first, then Geralt, Eskel, Cohen, and Lambert. Ciri should bathe last, when the water was cold. But on the other hand, she was a girl, and she had been a princess after all. Etiquette suggested perhaps she should go first.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Ciri will go first, <em>tonight</em>," said Vesemir. He held Geralt's gaze as he spoke. "As this will be her first and last night as a <em>guest</em> at Kaer Morhen. From tomorrow she will start training, and will bathe last."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>So it was decided. They would treat the orphaned little princess in the same way they had treated hundreds of orphans before. They would teach her to fight, teach her to watch and learn, and to protect herself and others from what hid in the darkness. This the Witchers knew how to do.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>He wondered how the headstrong Ciri would respond to the rigors of Witcher training. At that moment, she seemed more concerned about the bath. She hurried to the washroom to take advantage of her privilege before the water cooled.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Geralt sat by the fire in the dining hall, waiting for her. He soon got restless. It was the longest she had been out of his sight since he had found her in the forest. It made him uneasy. As he watched the fire crackle, he thought of their nights alone on the road, when Ciri had woken screaming in terror, her whole body shaking with fear and grief. He held her in his arms those nights, until she cried herself to sleep. They never spoke of it in the morning. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>He wondered if the nightmares would stop, now they were in the relative safety of Kaer Morhen. Why had Destiny brought him this Child Surprise, and how could he keep her safe?</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I'm going to check on Ciri," Geralt announced gruffly. The other Witchers - playing Gwent and reading by the fire - didn't care to respond. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>Geralt heard the sounds of lazy splashing as he approached the washroom. The hot water had fogged up the stone room like a sauna. Ciri sat submerged in the huge wooden tub in the center of the room - it was big enough for five or six boys to bathe together. Ciri looked very small in there alone, surrounded by little piles of myrtle soap bubbles.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Ciri?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>She turned to face him, splashing water over the side.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Oh, am I taking too long?" She asked. "Sorry, it's just nice to have a proper bath. I haven't been in a tub since -" she trailed off. <em>Since the fall of Cintra,</em> Geralt thought.  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Take your time," he said. "No, I uh, I came up to bring you a comb."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>He held out the simple wooden comb he kept in his pack, which they had shared on the road these past months. "Vesemir, Lambert... the others have shorter, rough hair, so they don't leave a comb in here," he said. "But you have long hair like mine, so... I thought you might want a comb."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Ciri's cheeked flushed a warm, contented red. "Oh! Yes, thank you."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Geralt gave her the comb and turned to leave, not sure what else he wanted to say. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Geralt?'</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Yes, Ciri?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Could you um - could you comb my hair?" She asked. "At the castle in Cintra my maids would comb my hair, or sometimes my grandmother would. It's - it's hard to get the tangles out at the back..."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Of course," said Geralt. He was glad of an excuse to stay, to watch over her a little longer. <em>And maybe</em>, he thought, <em>she wasn't ready to be alone yet either. </em></p>
</div><div>
  <p>He pulled up a wash-bucket and flipped it over to make a stool, then sat down by the tub and started carefully to comb the tangles from her long ashen hair. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"You know, Eskel used to comb my hair when we were young," he said.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Really?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I used to wear it really long," he said, lost in thoughts of his youth at Kaer Morhen, memories both warm and painful. "It was much longer than it is now, almost down to my waist. Some of my older brothers would tease me about it. They'd pull it during training or try to cut it off when I wasn't looking. But Eskel was always kind, that's his nature. He would comb out all the tangles here in the washroom, and sometimes he'd braid it for me too."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Ciri was quiet, seemingly lost in thoughts of her own. "His face..." she said eventually. "What happened to his face?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"What happens to a lot of Witchers," Geralt said. "He fought a creature and survived, but not without a scar. You can ask him the story yourself, he'll tell it to you."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Will I want to hear it?" Ciri asked.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I don't know."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>They sat in silence for a while, Geralt carefully easing the tangles from her hair, while Ciri slowly dragged her hands through the water.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Eventually, she spoke again. "So, a Witcher can have.... long hair?" She asked. She tilted her head back to look up at him, her bright green eyes meeting his amber ones. "I know I'm not... like the others who were trained here. But I want to learn how to be like you, to be a Witcher. Can I?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Geralt had never been proud of what he was. It was hard to be proud of a life that had been forced upon him. But in that moment his heart swelled with something like pride. This Child Surprise, his ward, his daughter. Destiny had brought her to him for a reason. Perhaps this was her Path too?</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Of course a Witcher can have long hair," he said, when he could find his voice to speak. "Becoming a Witcher isn't about changing who you are, not really. It's about <em>knowing</em> who you are; your strengths, your vulnerabilities, and where your power comes from. That's how you can defeat any foe."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Ciri thought about this for a while. "Give me a braid then," she said. "Like Eskel did for you. Before I start training tomorrow."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Alright, little Witcher," he said. "A braid it is."</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading. Comments are love.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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